These whacky "audio sunglasses" are actually GREAT! (Soundcore Frames hands-on review)
Apr 30, 2024
The Soundcore Frames by Anker are premium audio sunglasses that you might actually love.
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Let's go ahead and wrap up with an all new under review the segment where we
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talk about products that we're testing. I got a fun one for you guys this week
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and I'm going to start off with a I'm going to start off with a a disclaimer
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This product is probably not going to be for everyone. Okay, like like I think
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that anchor has a great product on their hands here, but it's a tough sell
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because not everyone wants to have a product like this. So what am I talking
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about? I'm getting ahead of myself here. I have in my hands the onca sound
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core frames and let me see if I can turn my camera zoom on or my focus on
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here. So you guys can actually see these things up close. Yeah, is that working kind of there? We go there. There we go. How's that? Yeah, there
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you go. So these are a pair of audio sunglasses and actually I think they
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have a pair of frames that you can just put normal glasses into and so they
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have like these speakers that are built into the stems of the sunglasses. I
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know this sounds wacky. I know for a lot of people are like why would you want this? It's for people like me who love having a theory audio and we had this
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conversation a while ago about the toilet seats that go over your neck with
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the speakers in them right and they have the speakers that you can wear around
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your neck from sony and from bows and the idea is you place them around your
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neck and then you don't have to wear headphones or earphones or anything and then the and then the music just blast up to your head and you can wear them on
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bike rides and a walks and and I think that I might be in this strange class
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of people that really likes a theory audio products like when I'm walking
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around outside when I when I'm on bike rides, I don't mind wearing my my air
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pods, but I prefer to not have anything in my ears and that's what these things
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do. They connect to your smart phone, your iphone, your ipad, whatever and
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they broadcast. They have some like tiny speakers built in here. I don't know if
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I can show this. They have these tiny speakers that are built into the the
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frames yeah there you go and you can see they just blast audio right into your
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ear and they come in a in a multitude of designs and the way this works is like
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these stems have like this. I think it's like a proprietary connection and you just like hold on. You just pull them off and so you can pull them off of the
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actual glasses and and then put new glasses onto the fronts and they sent me
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a whole bunch of designs. They have they make them in all these styles and and
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some of the styles. I actually really like like I like the styles that that I
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have here. They're kind of like a like a peach colored acetate and the other
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thing that I just found out because like when I first got these, I was like
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man, I really wish like these are polarized and then I went and looked at the the box. They are polarized. They're all polarized like so like they're
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really high quality sunglasses on the front and they do a good job at
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eliminating glare and stuff. So they're not like some cheap sunglasses attached
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to like some speakers like it's not a gimmick. It's like they really put a lot of thought and design into this product and they work very seamlessly with your
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Apple products. I mean you can even see the battery meter for the the sound
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core frames on your iphone, so you can see how much battery life is left, which by the way they hardly ever need to be charged like I charge them maybe once a
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week. I wear them all the time. They last forever. I don't know exactly what the number is, but I probably charge them maybe once a week and when I charge on
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they usually have like twenty thirty percent battery life left and as soon as
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you take them off they go into sleep mode. So they don't use battery power and when you put them on let me see here you might be able to hear it. No, can't hear
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anything. How do I look by the way? Oh man so cool cool looking sunglasses
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right and and so they connect when you put them on your face and then they just
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broadcast your audio, you know directly to your ears and and I love a man like I
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wear them when I'm outside. I've been wearing them on bike rides and stuff and
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they have I was telling Lewis. I don't know if this is pre show, but I was saying like they've actually replaced my air pods in certain scenarios like when
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I go outside when I go on drives when I'm riding my bike. I usually wear these
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instead of wearing my air pods because I just like having the ethereal audio and
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and also now I have sunglasses with me as well and they've got some designs
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that I really like like they have these ones which I showed you and let me see
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here. You don't have to worry about the air pod popping out and falling down a
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drain or falling into your toilet. I don't even know if this is like all the
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I came Davis and you some I need some doctor disrespect style ones yeah, so
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they've got they've got a bunch of different designs. They sent me. They probably sent me like freaking three hundred dollars for dollars with of
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designs here. How much is each each set of sunglasses? I think they're fifty
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bucks, which for a pair of high quality polarized sunglasses, I sound like I'm
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shilling for them like I'm not. They didn't pay me to say this. They did send these to me for free, which people always say it doesn't affect your
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opinion. I think it does, but I actually genuinely do like them and I think
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fifty dollars for a pair of high quality polarized sunglasses is actually not
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very much like my Ray Bans that I that I routinely wear cost like a hundred and
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dollars right. So paying fifty just for the for the front parts, I actually
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don't think is is is all that unreasonable. These kind of look like
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the Ray Ban Wayfarer sunglasses that I normally wear. They sent me. I guess
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these ones are pretty similar and again all of them polarized right. So you get
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really high quality optical on all of these different sunglasses. I'm holding up some clear ones with black lenses. Oh here we go, Lewis. Now I know this is
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your style because I know you're all about the Biden sunglasses. You like
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that Biden style. Here you go. Here's the Biden aviators right there. So you
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can I'm going to I'm going to call the Hunter S Thompson aviators. That's the
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classic. Well, there's one thing for sure. When you're wearing these, you can see the stairs clearly when you're coming in and out of the plane. So these
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would help you navigate that scenario expertly and then wait a second. I K Dave
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this might be what we were looking for here. This is this is kind of like Dr
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Disrespect ish isn't it or they just purple. They just need some like mirror
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finish. Anyway, I realize this is kind of a unique product and like I said, I
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think that Anker has a kind of a tough sell on their hands because I think a
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lot of people are like why would I want sunglasses that play audio like
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everyone I've talked to about these thought it was kind of like a wacky is any idea, but the thing is is like once you use them and you're like, oh, this
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is actually really nice because now I don't have to put anything in my ears. I
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can wear them outside. I can wear them when I'm out and about they're really
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great for podcasts. I mean they sound good. I wouldn't say they sound as good
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as air pods do because they're not inside your ears, but they sound really
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good and you can definitely listen to music on them. But what I've been using them for is like listening to podcasts, watching Youtube videos and that type
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of thing. They have great range that you can get super far away from your phone, and I think one of the other things I wanted to mention was just how
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well designed this product is like they're really well thought out and the
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industrial design is good, like the product quality is really good. They
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integrate super tightly with your with your apple devices and the experience
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is just really good. So anyway, I was going to frames yeah go ahead, sorry, I
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was going to ask you like what do you thought of the audio quality? I got to try these out before they launched them and you know it didn't sound it
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definitely doesn't sound as good as air pods. No. And for me it's a no it you
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know aside from like getting some with prescriptions put in it's impossible
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because I can't I can't see without classes right. So I would not be able to
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use this product. But I think that for podcasts it would be unbelievably great
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and and actually with music it. It does have a kind of a almost like a home
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potty kind of like shimmery sound around your ears right. I mean it's it's it's
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nowhere near as good as a home pod obviously because it's tiny little speakers right by your ears, but it's just like you're kind of cocooned in
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that little audio right yeah and you still have total situational awareness
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So like when you're like I wore these on my bike to see if if they would work
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because you have like the wind noise and everything and they did the one complaint I do have about these is I wish they got louder like they just
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don't get loud enough in some scenarios because you don't have anything in your ears blocking sound, and so I found oftentimes, especially with with YouTube
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videos, because people publish their videos with different volume levels and some videos sound super loud and they're fine and then some of them are really
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low and these just don't get loud enough to you know boost that audio up. So
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that's kind of like my only complaints about these, but and then they don't
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sound as good as you know air pods, but I guess for me I didn't expect them to
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because yeah, it's a different thing. Yeah, it's a completely different product. It's more about convenience than it is about having the best, you know
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audio quality, and so if you're looking for like the absolute most pristine audio quality, well then you know a speaker packed into the stem of a pair of
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sunglasses obviously aren't going to sound as good as something that you know
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are inside your ears and are entirely speakers and not meant to also you know
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be slender and slim so that it can fit inside of the stem of a pair of
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sunglasses. But yeah, you could take phone calls on them to right yeah, you
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could take phone calls. I haven't tested the microphone quality. I don't even know if these have a microphone in them. I think they do and I haven't tried that
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yet, but I should give you a call and you should let me know on air. Oh yeah
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they've got two mics one one in each one in one in each stem. They have five
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point five hour play time, which actually is lower than I would have
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thought, because like I said, like my last all week and I use them for long
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stretches of time over the course of the week and they're also ipx for water
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resistance. So I guess that means they can get splashed by rain and have to look up what ipx for means. I don't remember
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and yeah they're cool man. I know I started off when we were talking about
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this. I was like I don't think I'm in love with them yet, but I'm close like I'm close like they have definitely found their way into my heart and I
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whenever I go out now, like I always make sure they're with me and the other thing I like is is they're kind of covert right like there are situations
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where you don't want to have your your air pods in because then people know
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that you're not paying attention to them, but with these, so the thing I
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forgot to mention is they they have their their touch sensitive on the
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sides like they have these logos on the sides that you can like double tap and you can start and stop your audio by double tapping the sides of the stem
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which is something that they used to have in or in the earlier versions of
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of the air pods, which they got rid of in the air pods three, which I actually
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don't like as much, because now, if you want to control audio, you have to like like press on the stem, which is it right convenience and so for these like
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you can just be like having a conversation with your wife like right
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and and like and and like she comes in. This is the typical scenario for me right like I'm sitting there, listen to something and then she just comes in
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She starts talking to me because she doesn't know that I'm listening to anything, so I just double tap it and it stops and then I'm listening
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listening, listening. You know I'm like okay, yeah, that sounds cool like yeah great great plan there and then as soon as she's done going on and on about
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whatever she's talking about. I just double tap it and the auto starts again and it doesn't really seem like I'm listening to anything now. If they're
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close enough to you, they can hear it because it's a theory. So they might be
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able to tell, but on a drive like if I'm going to drive with my wife like I'm
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not going to wear my air pods because that means I'm communicating the message like I'm not listening to you. I want to be listening to my air pods
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right and when we're on drives, my wife always wants to be talking to me, but then sometimes there's little breaks where she stops. So I just dude, I just
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double dab it. Sometimes there are times when she stops. Also, it could also
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work the other way. When they start talking, you tap the temples and start
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the music and you just start nodding. Yes, dear, yes, honey, you're absolutely
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right, dear. We're going to get you a pair of these, Louis. I think you need a pair of these
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It's funny you mentioned that. The whole thing of like my wife does the exact
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same thing. I mostly am up in the office. So then when I go downstairs to get
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some water or coffee or something like that, it's like, oh, now's my chance to
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talk to Louis. I typically, if I'm making a cup of coffee, I'm listening to a
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podcast with an air pod in my ear and she just comes in and she starts talking
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I'm like, you know, I can't hear you because I've got it. So she doesn't get
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the visual cue that I can't hear it. And it's an odd phenomenon, isn't it? It's
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like, you know, you feel like somebody just barged in on you and expected you to
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be just 100% listening to you. But in fact, you're like, you know, listening to
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some podcast, right? Because, you know, you haven't you've been in there sometimes like if you're in the zone washing the dishes for like 10, 15
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minutes, you know, what are you doing? I mean, is it is it weird that I've got
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that I'm listening to a podcast where I watch dishes? No, I'm in fact, she used to complain because I would listen to the radio back in the day, right? Listen
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to the radio and like, oh, you're always listening to the radio. I don't want to hear it. I'm like, okay, well, now I have now I have air pods and I can listen to
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the radio or podcast and anyway, common common problem, I guess, at least with
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between the two of us. Yeah, I think that's a common wife husband problem. I
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know there's there's so many people out there who are kind of like nodding and they're like I know you're talking about when you're on the drive and you're
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like I kind of wanted to just listen to a podcast, but you're talking to me, you
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know, it's like I don't want to be rude, but if you're going to stop, then I'll just you know double tap it and I'll wait for the next, you know, stream of
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consciousness to begin for double tab. Anyway, I should wrap up. I know I've
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been going on and on about these, but I wasn't expecting to like them as much
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as I have and and I think more than anything else is I love the design of
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the sunglasses, which is important right because like they're actually cool sunglasses. They're a hundred fifty bucks for a pair of these and and then
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the like the actual sunglass portion, which you just you know snap on to the
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the stems here cost fifty bucks each. I think they're all fifty dollars and I
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think I'm just got a great product on their hands here. I really do like like I said, they're kind of wacky. They're not for everyone, but I like them and if
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you like a theory audio, I would wholeheartedly recommend you try these out and you might you'll probably like them more than you're. You think that
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you're going to like them. Once you have like that ethereal audio experience, you don't have to have anything in your ears. Once you get used to it, it's it's
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just kind of nice to have some some variety. You don't have to have something jammed in your ears all the time. I went on and on about those
15:10
forever, so now it's just a stream of consciousness. It's an interesting product man. It's different, you know, it's not just another set of air pods or
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ear buds. It's not it's not another. You know wall wart yeah to say about it. I mean it's an interesting thing yeah, that's
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actually a great point. It is it's an unusual product. I think that might actually might make it. What is interesting because it's not just
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another pair of headphones like you say like everyone like everyone's always got a pair of headphones or like our our headphones are different because I go to
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eleven or look the the the ear cups are a special microfiber that comes in
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purple right, but they're but they're all just headphones and it's like an
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and here you have anchor and anchor is interesting because they got their
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start on you or on amazon. I think they were built to be an amazon company and
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they started off with like cables and apple accessories and they built a brand
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name for themselves for building like high quality cables and stuff and now they're branching out like we were talking about. They have like that power
16:09
bank like that fifteen hundred dollar battery power bank. They just came out with a three printer which I think is really interesting and I'm wondering how
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that compares to other other three d printers and now they're branching out into other products which which is interesting. They have these. They have a
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bunch of audio products now so they're kind of expanding into everything. Their
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ear buds are really good too. I mean you know they they don't have that apple
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ecosystem magic right. I mean that's that's my only knock against them
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otherwise nobody has that. I mean like being that that's the thing you realize how great the air pods are when you can move from from your iphone to your ipad
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to your mac and you don't have to connect anything or do anything like and these are bluetooth like they have a great connection, but when you're
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connected to your phone and then you go to your ipad, they don't automatically connect to your ipad. You have to like disconnect them from your from your
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iphone reconnect them to your ipad. It's you know it's kind of lame, but that's
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how bluetooth works. You know yeah that's how everything works. Everything works
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with ear pods. Yeah exactly
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